The collections of the Birmingham Public Library Archives contain more than
400,000 photographs and 30,000,000 documents, including government records,
business records, maps, letters, diaries, scrapbooks and architectural drawings.

Newspaper clippings relating to race relations and the Civil Rights Movement in
the United States.

Size : 352 reels microfilm

Collection Guide Available : Yes

Ramsay High School PTA

Scrapbook, 1938-1980s

AR1222

Size : 4 flat boxes

Collection Guide Available : No

Ramsay, Erskine

Papers, 1887-1953

AR1

Erskine Ramsay was a mining engineer, inventor, business executive, and philanthropist. Included in this collection of his papers are business, family, and personal correspondence, biographical data, genealogical information, papers regarding Ramsay’s charitable gifts and honors, speeches and tributes, reports on coal mines and mining in the Birmingham, Alabama area, photographs of mines, coke ovens, iron furnaces, and other related structures in the same area, blueprints of mine layouts, maps of mines and mining properties in the same area, clippings, and birthday invitations. For the period of Ramsay’s employment by the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co., 1887 – 1901, there are letters and reports which reflect the economic and managerial difficulties of the company and provide statistical data on its yearly production. For the same period, there are letters which detail the efforts of the other mining companies to secure Ramsay as an employee. For the years 1903 – 1953, the papers provide information on Ramsay’s continued involvement in the mining industry.

Size : 4 linear feet, 1 flat box.

Collection Guide Available : Yes

Ramsay, Erskine (C)

“Personal Notes Covering Inspection of European Mines,” 1911

AR1577

Size : 1 volume

Collection Guide Available : No

Randolph, Ryland

Scrapbook, 1890s

AR413

Ryland Randolph was born in 1835, in Mesopotamia, Alabama. His father, Victor M. Randolph, was a commodore in the U.S. Navy and later in the C.S.A. Navy. Ryland's mother died when he was young, and he was brought up by various relatives in Alabama. He also accompanied his father on several naval expeditions. Randolph attended the University of Alabama in the late 1850s. The owner of over fifty slaves, Randolph bought a plantation near Montgomery in 1858. He later sold his land for Confederate bonds and joined the Montgomery Mounted Rifles. Randolph served throughout the war, eventually rising to the rank of colonel. During Reconstruction Randolph developed a reputation as a Southern apologist and outspoken newspaper editor. He started his first newspaper, the Tuskaloosa Independent Monitor, in 1867. Randolph’s newspaper and brief legislative careers were studded with duels and other altercations with people he either offended or who offended him. His frequent targets included Reconstruction leaders, carpetbaggers, the leadership of the University of Alabama, and the Alabama Democratic Party. In the final days of Reconstruction, Randolph moved to Birmingham where he continued to write commentary for area newspapers. He died in Birmingham on May 7, 1903. This scrapbook of largely undated newspaper clippings covers the early-to-mid 1890s. In addition to miscellaneous clippings by what appears to be a variety of authors, the scrapbook contains both signed and pseudonymous writing of Randolph published in several Alabama newspapers. Also included in the scrapbook are recipes for various dishes and home remedies.

Size : 1 volume

Collection Guide Available : No

Ratliff, Mary

Diaries, 1935-1947

AR1457

Size : 1 box

Collection Guide Available : No

Ray, Louise Crenshaw

Scrapbook, 1925-1935

AR579

Louise Crenshaw Ray was born near Greenville, Alabama and lived in Birmingham. Ray's poetry was published in many magazines, including Commonweal and the Sewanee Review. She was a member of several national organizations, a founder, president (1932-1934), and treasurer (1944-1945) of the Poetry Society of America, a member of the Birmingham Branch of the National League of American Pen Women, and a member of the Birmingham Writers Club (correspondence secretary 1928-1929). Among her published collections of poetry are Color of Steel (1932), Secret Shoes (1939), Strangers on the Stairs (1944), and Autumn Token (posthumously, 1957). Ray died on October 23, 1956, in Birmingham. This scrapbook was compiled by staff of the Birmingham Public Library. In addition to newspaper and magazine clippings, the scrapbook includes several of Ray's poems, copies of photographs published in the newspaper, and a biographical sketch of the poet.

Size : 1 volume

Collection Guide Available : No

Red Mountain Cemetery

Record of Interments

AR1015

Red Mountain Cemetery, sometimes called Southside Cemetery, was used by the City of Birmingham from 1888 to 1906 as a place to bury the indigent dead. The cemetery contains 4,711 burials and was located south of the city on the site that is now Lane Park and the Birmingham Zoo. The graves were not removed, but decades after the cemetery ceased to be used, the park and zoo were built over the graves. The interment book lists names, sex, race, dates of death, and causes of death.

Size : 1 flat box (1 volume)

Collection Guide Available : No

Red Mountain Museum

Records, 1970-1992

AR1253

Opened in September 1977, the Red Mountain Museum was established by the City of Birmingham to promote the study of the sciences. The museum overlooked the Red Mountain Expressway cut, and its exhibits and programs highlighted the geology of the Birmingham area. In 1991, the Red Mountain Museum merged with Discovery Place to form Discovery 2000, and this facility planned the development of a science center in downtown Birmingham. That downtown facility, the McWane Center, opened in July 1998. This collection contains correspondence, financial data, publications, newspaper clipping files, and subject files on exhibits, programs, and the sciences.

Size : 8½ linear feet, 2 flat boxes (8 boxes)

Collection Guide Available : Yes

Redd, Eliza Pope

Scrapbook, 1927

AR548

This scrapbook contains clippings of a series of articles entitled “Battles of the Late Civil War” from the periodical The War Record.

Size : 1 reel microfilm

Collection Guide Available : No

Reed, R. S.

Letters, 1862-1863

AR619

This collection contains photocopies of five letters written by R. S. Reed to his wife Harriet for the period June 20, 1862 to December 17, 1863. Most of the letters concern events in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Size : ¼ linear foot (1 box)

Collection Guide Available : Yes

Republic Iron and Steel Company. Southern District

Photograph Album

AR448

This album contains photographs showing facilities of Republic Steel, Pioneer Mining and Manufacturing and the area around Birmingham.

Size : 1 volume containing 66 photographs

Collection Guide Available : Yes

Riddle, Hallie C. Reed

Diaries, 1887-1902, 1906.

AR108

Hallie Reed Riddle lived in the eastern section of Birmingham. The diaries document the experiences and activities of a middle-class white woman living in Birmingham at the turn of the 20th century, and include descriptions of picnics, religious revivals, and trips to the state fair.